Killeshin’s Milton captains Ireland to Bob Docherty Cup win

REMEMBER the name Ciara Milton. The youngster from Killeshin has been making waves in the world of soccer for a few years now, having won the Golden Boot at the Gaynor Cup a couple of years ago, and having scored multiple times for Ireland at different level. She continues to make a name for herself, as she captained Ireland’s U/15’s Girls Schools team to a Bob Docherty Cup win last week, notching another achievement on her already packed CV.

The tournament started with a fantastic 2-1 win over England on Monday, bringing home silverware from the start in the John Reid Trophy, before easing past Scotland in a 2-0 win. That set up a final day showdown with Northern Ireland where they just needed a point to win and, after going behind, they came back to win 3-2, and the Killeshin youngster was lifting the trophy as captain.

Ciara’s mother Sinead said it was a special moment to see her daughter lifting the trophy.

“Very special. Not many girls are lifting a cup for their country at 15 so she’s very lucky. She’s absolutely delighted. A pinch me moment really,” said Sinead.

“She just takes it all in her stride. She did very well with captaining the team. The manager came over after and said she was really good off the pitch as well with the girls in the hotel, that if there was anyone who might be stepping out of line, which would rarely happen, she’d be able to pull them back in nicely, which I was surprised at, hardly my daughter.

“They sent a message afterwards too just reiterating that. It was a great week for Carlow soccer. She’s absolutely buzzing. It’s nice to have her jersey here in the house. They got presented with their jerseys, so we’re going to put it in a nice frame for her and put it up in her room. She has the pendants too and a medal so she’s a really lucky girl.

“She’s annoyed she didn’t score but she did assist a couple. She’s not a very selfish player, if there’s a player in a better position, she passes it into them. She would have loved a goal but she didn’t get one, she was still a big part of the team though. Hopefully this is only the start though.” Sinead credited Women’s National League stars, Kylie Murphy and Aoife Kelly as being inspirations to Ciara.

“Having Kylie Murphy locally was huge, she was always so good to Ciara, giving her jerseys and pictures of her. Kylie would go down to Killeshin and she was just this idol to her. Aoife Kelly has also been amazing to her as well. When Ciara first went up to look at Shamrock Rovers, Aoife came over to her and told her how great the club was and wished her luck. Aoife also presented Ciara with a Player of the Match award when she played for Leinster Schools against Connacht in November 2023.” Ciara was also part of the St Leo’s squad who won the Leinster Minor A title recently and she won her first Carlow League medal too, winning the girls U16’s league with Killeshin. Ciara was a part of the squad before she made the move to Shamrock Rovers in January.